Jesus Topete

Professor Margaret Hernandez

English 103/ research paper

Topete 1

May 21, 2015

Seed of it all
In September 5,2005 a young boy was shot down and killed by police officer Steven
Garcia after a 3 minute car chase. The boy was Devin Brown a black 13 year old boy, who went
joy riding in a car in South Los Angeles at three in the morning. Michael Browns death was not
a new phenomenon in the city of Angels to the contrary it was another life the officers of Los
Angeles had decided to end for the safety of the public. Death doesnt always accompany those
who are chased by Los Angeles police officers it is the minority who get that faith, but a larger
part do get other forms of violence from the peace keepers of the city. From beatings using their
kicks, police issued flashlights, or the occasional good old police team up beating some of the
people who caused trouble or are suspected of causing trouble get some form of beating. Worth
noting is that those who receive the short end of the police officers sticks are usually minorities,
so the racial minority of the population ends up getting the majority of the police brutality
although that sort of treatment is not the overall norm of how the citizens of los Angeles get
treated by its police officers. Officer Garcia was part of a police department with a long history
of abuse against its citizens from physically beating the ones they swore to serve and protect to
killing them when the officers felt it was warranted. It was the Los Angeles Police departments
fault that Devin Browns life was taken due to their wildly used practice of lethal force
,especially against minorities made possible by a system that leaves police officers without
repercussions when they dont live up to the standard and do the opposite of protecting and
serving.

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On the night of February 5 2005 Police officer Garcia open fired on Devin Brown
shooting him ten times with seven of those bullets finding Devins body. Garcia was following a
long line tradition of utilizing lethal force to end the threat as quickly as possible to avoid harm
to himself or to others. Similar cases in 1999 and 1998 were posted in The Guardian newspaper
article by Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles. May 19, 1999. It explained two instances where Los
Angeles police officers used terminating force to deal with a person.
The first was about a 54 year old, mentally ill homeless person Laverne Mitchell who
upon questioning by the police if the trolley cart she was pushing was stolen pulled out a
screwdriver .Officer Edward Larringan then pulled out his handgun and shot her dead,
ending whatever possible threat an old mentally sick woman attempting to hold on to the
last things she had in her life could have posed to an armed officer with training. The
1998 incident involved a 19 year old girl named Tyisha Mille who fell to a comatose like
state in the back of her car with a gun visible inside the car while foaming from her
mouth. Her family worried about what might be going on with their daughter called 911.
Four police officers arrived to the scene each one with their guns in their hands fully
loaded and ready to fire. The officers attempted to call out to her first but like her family
had no luck getting any response so they decided to break the window to check on her.
The broken windows loud noise caused Tyisha to wake up suddenly jolting right up ,
the sudden movement with a weapon on the vehicle startled the police officers and their
mindset of helping switch to putting down what could be a potential threat. All four fired
their handguns on the young lady that had being foaming from her mouth just minutes
ago.
Like the police officers and their shootings of Tyisha and Laverne officer Garcia had a good
reason why he resorted to lethal means to stop Devin Brown. Reasons everyone wanted to know

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as Brian Dunn an attorney was quoted as asking in an article by Solomon Moore and Richard
Winton. Slain Boys Family Files Claim; the action, a prelude to a suit, alleges that the killing of
Devin Brown, 13, by LAPD officer was due to inadequate department policies. the LA TIMES
Feb 23 we want to know what this little boy did to give this police officer a reason to kill
him. Devin Brown had led the LAPD on a short police chase in south Los Angeles when he
lost control of the vehicle and slammed against a side walk. Once Brown hit the sidewalk officer
Garcia went to Devin on foot to apprehend Brown, but Brown backed his car in reverse to lose
the police. After Devin backed up Officer Garcia shot at Brown ten times claiming it was in selfdefense. He had a car coming at him with only a split second to do something to prevent Brown
from running him over and so he took those ten shots to save his own life. That was the reason
officer Garcia gave for shooting the young kid ten times a reason that would later be refuted.
The coroners report came out and made officers Garcia statements on why he shot Brown
contradictory to how things happened. Garcia claimed he shot Brown as he reversed into Garcia
so he fired his gun to avoid bodily harm however the coroners report stated that Garcia must
have being standing to the side of Brown not from behind to match the bullet wounds exits and
entrances. The wounds Brown sustained would have being impossible had Garcia truly stood
behind the car, Garcia shot at Brown from a location that posed no threat to Garcia yet he fired
away. Police officers used as much force as necessary to subdue their targets and nothing
subdues like death .Lavern and Tayisha had potential to be a danger to themselves, the public,
and the police officers so they were taken out with the outmost force. Brown had no weapons
but he had something that could be used as such and when he backed the car into the police
vehicle officer Garcia quickly viewed the car as a weapon and instead of disabling the weapon,
taking out the user of the weapon would be a more easy solution. Its why the officer used his

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hand gun on Laverne rather than his baton, pepper spray or shooting at the legs or arms to
incapacitate the person why Garcia shot at Devin rather than the wheels.
The Los Angeles Police force is known for using lethal force as it showed with Laverne,
Tayisha and Devin Brown and they were all black, a small minority in Los Angeles yet one of the
biggest recipients of police brutality. Without a doubt the color of Devins skin played a key role
on the type of treatment he received from the police that night. When comparing the treatment of
whites versus blacks and other minorities the police force play favorites as the
Justice Department stats[ . . . ]show that black and Mexican/Latino motorist stopped by
police are 10 times more likely than whites to be searched, and even more
disproportionately to be arrested or subjected to physical force. From author
Tracy Richard. Scholarly. STOP TERRORISM & OPPRESSION BY POLICE!
Turning the Tide Journal 8 (2005): 4.
The likely hood of Brown having survived his police encounter magically become better had his
skin color not being black. The mistreatment of minorities does not happen seldom but on a daily
basis as a normal part of life in the city. It was the overly use of force against minorities that
caused Browns death to appear in the papers, television, and the internet. People marched,
protested formed coalitions not just because of what happened to Brown but because of what
happened to a long list of individuals at the hands of police who were also a minority.
On the night Devin was killed by police officer Garcia his fate might have being otherwise had
he not lived in Los Angeles. Where its officers abuse their powers against those that are not
capable of keeping the police force in check due to their low status in society as a minority.
Misfortune smiled upon Devin Brown the night he went joy riding in the city of angels, a city not
forgiving of those who belong to its minority group.
The Los Angeles police department commits acts of aggression on minority groups and
on February 5 killed Devin Brown because theres little oversight on their actions. The police
force has an us vs. them mentality us referring to the police officers and them anyone who

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breaks the law. It creates a comradery among fellow officers who are in the same fight of
cleaning the streets of criminals causing them to look out for one another. This comradery is
universal not limited by rank or position this had caused the LAPD to be a
long-standing institutional culture in which some police officers feel that they have the
tacit approval of their leadership, especially at the mid-executive level , to brutalize
and even kill[]They believeand theyve often been proven rightthat the heads
will turn the other way Mack John Commentary; The LAPD is on Trial Once Again;
Killing of teenager freshly exposes a police culture of brutality to blacks. Los Angeles
Times. Feb 13, (2005)
With little to no oversight by the upper police ranks the officers on the streets can do anything
they want without consulting to anyone since their bosses would agree with them or just let their
actions pass. No other job has its employees work without a manager or the boss checking in to
see what they are doing in order to ensure that they are doing a proper job. There doesnt exist a
profession where complaints about the product, or service doesnt end up with tougher
regulations on the employees. Yet despite the law suits by citizens to the police force due to
police misconduct, news on the media of another police shoot out , or a protest in response to
police brutality the higher ups change very little of how things are done. This lack of oversight is
what helps create the huge police brutality problem in Los Angeles. When something is done
regarding an officer who took unnecessary force against someone or behaved in away
unbecoming of a police officer a special court hearing is conducted. The court hearing takes
place in a closed setting with two high-ranking police officers and a civilian acting as judges that
decide if the officer in question has indeed violated any rules of police behavior or used unlawful
usage of lethal force. The only way of having police officers fired, arrested, or penalized for their

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behavior is through this police venue court, public hearings or courts under the normal set of
laws for prosecuting are not permitted thanks to the Police Bill of Rights.
Aubry Larry in the Devin Brown vs LAPD Police Bill of rights, Courts and
Community The Sentinel (2005) explains how this system of judging benefits the police
officer since it mandates favorable treatment and protective apparatus for every officer
in the state under an investigation that could lead to punitive action. This has ominous
implications for police abuse cases involving [] because police rights are paramount
and they are always in a win-win situation.
Even when charges are brought against officers the game is rigged in favor of the officers in
question thanks to their bill of rights. Nothing beats getting judge by a body of their fellow peers
with rules set in their favor which helped Officer Garcia after his shooting of Devin Brown. After
the shooting of Devin Brown a Police Commission was set in place to investigate if Garcia had
acted within policy when he shot Devin Brown ten times and it found that he had not shot in
self-defense as officer Garcia claimed . Since the car was not on a collision course with Officer
Garcia as he had stated as the reason of why he shot Devin Brown, the Police Commission found
Garcia had used lethal force wrongfully. An out of policy decision does not mean guilty or
innocent verdict it simply refers the out of policy offenders to the Police Bill of Rights mandated
police court the Board of Rights hearing.
Officer Garcias Board of Rights hearing found that virtually all of the evidence (pointed
to) Garcias perception that his life was in imminent danger. This finding minimizes or
ignores the Departments own comprehensive, highly technically sophisticated reenactment of the crime which concluded that officer Garcia was

probably not in

harms way when he killed Devin Brown. By Mack John Commentary; The LAPD is on
Trial Once Again; killing of teenager freshly exposes a police culture of brutality to
blacks. Los Angeles Times. Feb 13, (2005)

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The police hearing found Garcia innocent of any wrong doing when he shot Devin Brown ten
times while been clearly out of the cars way because the facts mattered not, what mattered was
Garcias mind set and how he perceived the threat at the time of the shooting. The two high level
officers that could sympathize with Garcia about getting scared of a moving vehicle got him
cleared of any wrong doings. With a system set in place that always favors one side it becomes
hard and impossible to get police officers who abuse their position to be kicked out or sentence
to jail for their actions. Unaccountability is what this creates any officer could beat up anyone
kill anyone without having to worry of any repercussions. It is no wonder the Los Angeles Police
Department has such a high rate of police brutality against the very citizens they are sworn to
serve and protect.
The high rate of citizen beatings and mistreatments at the hands of police in Los Angeles
has plagued the Police Department for years and in February 5, 2005 its usage of force got Devin
Brown killed. The end of Browns life came with an excuse of self-defense on officers Garcias
side, a side many police officers used to also justify their killings of civilians such as with
Laverne and Tyasha. Killings that also share with each other the need of the police officer to end
the perceived threat immediately rather than subdue it. The three killings also share the fact that
the victims were all black .Most of the police mistreatments happen to people who belong to a
minority group. The obvious targeting of minority peoples by the police have caused protest,
rallies and outcry from the citizens yet their minority status makes it hard to achieve change. The
beatings aim mostly at the minority groups continue to happen unchanged due to how hard it is
to get a police officer that did wrong off the force. Those that misbehave still have the back up of
their superiors and a court system that favors the police officer rather than the victim. The Los
Angeles Police Department is violent and thanks to the way it is run wont be stopping any time
soon.

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